


Enhanced Interrogation

by badgerling



Category: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-19
Updated: 2012-02-19
Packaged: 2017-10-31 11:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/343544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badgerling/pseuds/badgerling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After authorizing torture, Jack doesn't really need a lecture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enhanced Interrogation

**Author's Note:**

> Could be read as either gen or an established relationship.

Daniel actually had his own office. Well, it wasn't really an office, so much as an old storage closet that Jack had some how managed to stuff both a desk and a chair into. There was even a small mini-fridge and single cup coffee maker because Jack knew no one in the Pentagon shared Daniel's love of overly fancy and almost tasteless (to Jack) coffee and no way in hell was Daniel going to live off of instant coffee for the next however long.

It wasn't Cheyenne Mountain. It was too small, too cramped, and too quiet without Mitchell or Vala busting in every five seconds. If anyone asked, those were the reasons he wasn't currently in his office with his books and research reports from other, active SG teams and the Atlantis research group. That was really the only reason he was still sitting in one of the really uncomfortable chairs in Jack's office with an old book that had pages literally falling out of it each time he gingerly turned the paper.

If he followed protocol, he should have gone back to his own office and waited for Jack to come to him. Or until Jack sent for him. Daniel had never been good at following protocol, though, and he _knew_ Jack. His best friend in the entire world would avoid the subject for days, weeks possibly, if Daniel let him.

And this time, Daniel wasn't in the mood to let him.

So he was waiting patiently in the chair across from Jack's desk, reading his book, fingers tracing the lines of text to mark his place, and he remained there even after Jack came back from wherever he'd gone, from whoever he'd been, and from whatever he'd done. As Jack took his seat behind the desk, Daniel didn't look up from his book. He kept his attention focused on the words, and he counted himself lucky that Jack wouldn't notice that Daniel had read the same block of text three times already.

Daniel's head bowed a little more when he could practically feel Jack staring at him. He wasn't really sure why he didn't immediately start speaking. He wasn't really used to choosing his words carefully, not around Jack, but he felt like he needed to, a point that was driven home when Jack slammed a file folder open on his desk with a little more force than was really necessary.

Daniel had the decency to cringe and look up at his best friend, only to find clear, cold brown eyes staring back at him. Daniel's mouth hung open a little bit, halfway between breathing and speaking, and one look from Jack was all it took for Daniel to forget what he was going to say. It was an expression that Daniel was familiar with, even if it was one that he'd never expected to be turned in his direction. It was a look usually reserved for System Lords and upstart megalomanical robots.

Jack blinked first, and his expression softened. Sort of. At the very least, he was no longer glaring at Daniel like Daniel was some _thing_ that needed to be out of his sight in a hurry. Jack's shoulders slumped, and he pressed his elbows against the desk as he rubbed his hand over his forehead and his eyes. Daniel still didn't speak, mostly out of some deeply buried fear that that cold look would come back.

Jack broke first, his head turning down toward the file folder, hand still propping his head up as he said, "I don't need a lecture, Daniel." Daniel knew that, actually. Jack rarely needed lectures of any kind. Talking was pointless and it wasted time. It had actually only taken one mission to Abydos for Daniel to get that. Nothing Daniel said would change Jack's mind, not once it was made up, and that was something else he'd accepted a decade ago.

Instead of speaking, Daniel just marked his place in the book, place it carefully on the seat of the other chair, and he rose to his feet. He stepped around Jack's desk easily enough, and he leaned back against the bookcase behind him. He still didn't speak as he reached out, pressing his cool fingers against the back of Jack's neck. It was a deceptively simple touch.

Jack's skin was warm to the touch, warmer than it probably should have been, and maybe that was because of the stones or maybe it was Daniel annoying the shit out of him again. It didn't really matter. He traced his thumb over Jack's hairline, feeling his friend lean back into his touch, just a little. It was something else he'd picked up on SG-1. Jack didn't always react well to words, but actions? Sometimes those got through to him more than anything else in the world. And the simple act of Daniel standing behind him, one hand gently on his friend’s neck, it was enough for Jack to know Daniel wasn't going to lecture him.

For a moment, Daniel wasn't sure if they were just going to stand there like that for hours, but it was only after a couple of minutes that Jack finally reached up, taking Daniel's hand and pulled it off his neck. He held on, just for a second, his thumb tracing Daniel's palm before he dropped that hand, and just like that, Daniel knew he was dismissed.

He nodded slightly, stepping back around the desk, back to the chair and his book. He glanced back at Jack, saying, "I'll be in my office." Obviously. Where else was he going to go? But it was an invitation more than anything, Daniel's way of letting Jack know he'd be there even without actually being _there_. Jack didn't acknowledge Daniel's words, and Daniel could only nod again as he headed for his tiny closet of an office.

Hours later, long after almost everyone else in the building had gone home, when the only people left were support staff and the night shift because the Pentagon never really closed for the night, Daniel was finally startled out of the Atlantis files and the thought that he'd probably be of more use actually in San Francisco, on Atlantis, rather than here in Washington, at Homeworld Command, by a knock on his open door.

He knew who it was without looking up, and he offered Jack a slight smile before he straighted up, sitting back in his chair and closing the file. Jack nodded in response to the smile, not saying a word as he stepped inside, toed the door shut behind him, and walked the few steps the mini-fridge. There was really only one reason that thing was even there, and Jack pulled a beer out before he leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor.

Daniel never questioned how the alcohol got past security. He suspected it had something to do with Asgard beaming technology, the _Hammond_ , and Jack's complete disregard for the rules. The fact that he only drank in Daniel's office wasn't lost on him either. Daniel rolled his chair over to the end of his desk and looked down at Jack.

"You know, you could always put in a request for your own chair, Jack." Not that there was room for another chair, and not that Daniel wouldn't just pile it up with books and files that he always meant to get around to reading. Jack just grunted as he unscrewed the top of the beer and took a long drink. He pressed his head back against the wall and finally opened his eyes to look at Daniel.

"I'm sorry. For earlier," Jack said, dangling the beer between his bent knees. The words were soft, and Daniel could have pretended not to hear them. But that wasn't in Daniel's nature, not anymore.

"Which part? The part where you said that we should just go ahead and torture someone and risk killing two people with little to no actual guarantee of receiving any useful information?" He made the question sound innocent, his eyebrows lifted curiously, and he knew he was treading on thin ice, but he also knew that Jack was in a safer mood now than he had been earlier.

That much was obvious when all he got in response was a tired, "Watch it." Jack took another swig of his beer. "For snapping at you. I know better." He did, too. Unless he was looking to start an argument, and Daniel didn't think Jack was in the mood for their familiar call-and-answer, not right then. Daniel just nodded, accepting that apology, even though Jack didn't need to give it. Daniel had been asking for it just as much as Jack had been asking for a lecture.

Daniel actually moved his chair back, stood up, and poured himself a cup of coffee. He didn't say anything as he slid down the wall to sit next to Jack in the cramped little space. There wasn't really enough room for both of them to sit comfortably, not without their legs and shoulders touching, not without there barely being room for air between them. But, then, that was why the door was closed. Why Daniel had a closet instead of an actual office because there were no security cameras in refurbished supply closets, not in the Homeworld Command section anyway.

The tension in Jack's body leaked out along that line of contact, and Jack took a deep breath before leaning slightly into Daniel, eliminating that space for air.

Jack's hand found Daniel's bent knee, squeezing slightly. With anyone else, it would have been a small, insignificant touch, but Daniel had become proficient at translating Jack-speak over the years. He knew what that touch meant, and Daniel relaxed into it, leaning against Jack as much as the other man was leaning against him.  


**Author's Note:**

> Not mine. MGM owns them.


End file.
